Lewis ‘Butch’ Pope dies at 58

Elia Powers

The consummate competitor, Lewis “Butch” Pope displayed his athletic

versatility one afternoon decades ago.

Pope, a rower with the Orange Coast College crew team, was asked

by the varsity swimming coach to fill in for a swim meet.

He accepted on the spot, even though he hadn’t trained for the

sport in 18 months.

“I’m sure there wasn’t any doubt in his mind he could do it,” said

Marilyn Pope, Butch’s wife of 28 years. “He ran over to the pool and

jumped right in.”

Pope won the butterfly-stroke event, capturing the attention of

Orange Coast College sports fans.

His years of athletic achievement also captured the attention of

Daily Pilot editors, who picked him for the Daily Pilot Sports Hall

of Fame in 2000.

A longtime Newport Beach resident, Pope died July 3 of unknown

causes. He was 58.

Born in Atlanta, Pope was a first-team All-American water polo

player and swimming record-holder at Newport Harbor High School.

Pope graduated in 1965 and went on to row at UCLA. After college,

he and Bruin teammate Bob Newman continued their rowing careers

together, competing as a two-man pair with a coxswain, who happened

to be Pope’s 11-year-old nephew, Thegn Putman.

“He [Butch] was tickled to have a family member on board,” Marilyn

Pope said. “That team did some great things.”

It was the top-rated team at the National Rowing Championships in

1971. The team represented the United States at a world championship

competition in Copenhagen and came close to earning a trip to the

Olympic Games.

Butch Pope and Newman trained every day together. Newman said he

never met a more competitive person. He recalled a moment in 1972,

when the two encountered two competitors.

“They asked him, ‘How’s it going?’” Newman recounted. “He

answered, ‘It’s going great. We’re faster and better now than we were

before.”

Added Newman: “He was a delightful person, a responsible and

reliable friend.”

An avid fisherman, Pope was a deckhand on a sport fisherman’s

yacht during the 1970s.

He was a salesman and then the general manager of Weber Plywood in

Tustin.

A former Newport Beach Country Club member and near-scratch

golfer, Pope convinced his wife to take up the sport.

In addition to Marilyn, Pope is survived by his two children,

Chris and Laura Pope. A memorial service was held Monday at the

American Legion in Newport Beach.

Marilyn Pope said she has been inundated with phone calls since

her husband’s passing.

“Everyone has a different story,” she said. “One man called and

said, ‘My father didn’t love me as much as he did.’ It’s been a

beautiful experience for me to hear how much people appreciated him.”